


televison

by brokenlikeastitch



Series: television/so far so good [1]
Category: Men's Hockey RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Online Dating, Kinda, M/M, Nolan does not, Travis plays hockey, inspired by my class partner
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-22
Updated: 2020-03-22
Packaged: 2021-02-28 19:53:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,795
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23252755
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/brokenlikeastitch/pseuds/brokenlikeastitch
Summary: but if you’re looking for something newI know somebody that you could choose~or~the inherent intimacy of seeing someone you don't know in bed over video chat
Relationships: Travis Konecny/Nolan Patrick
Series: television/so far so good [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1673764
Comments: 6
Kudos: 160





	televison

**Author's Note:**

> i took creative liberties. also it's unedited i'm sorry.

Normally, Travis didn’t fuck with online classes. He didn’t have the attention span or the memory to get the work done on time. His mom made him start using a planner to keep up with all his deadlines, and he did fill it out at the beginning of every month, but it was rare he remembered to check it daily. Even rarer that he remembered to check his email every day. So, online classes just seemed like setting himself up for failure.

He also liked to read Rate My Professor reviews before picking his schedule. It was easier for him to succeed if he were able to get professors who were good about sticking with the schedule in their syllabus and/or gave ample due date reminders in class.

Unfortunately, there was one class that he needed to graduate, and taking it online was way easier and way less work than taking it in class. In class required so much extra homework and unnecessary class participation, and to be honest, he didn’t care enough to put in that kind of effort. He just wanted to graduate.

Also unfortunately, every senior in the college of business needed it to graduate and there was only one online section with 40 seats that over 200 students wanted. Fortunately, athletes got priority scheduling and Travis played hockey, so he had a better shot than some of the other seniors vying for a spot.

The class wasn’t set to start until March, so Travis would actually got a lighter course load to adjust to until then, and he was excited about that prospect. A few guys that graduated the year before told him taking it in class wasn’t as bad as it seemed, but Travis had his heart set on the online section.

And sure enough, he got it.

***

March rolled around and Travis logged into his email to find one sitting at the top from the professor of the online course with a PDF of the syllabus and instructions on the software they’d need. Upon opening the PDF, Travis’s stomach dropped.

_I’ve changed the curriculum based on complaints from past graduates that the online section was too easy in comparison to the on-campus sections. This course now includes a partner project that you will have to coordinate either online or in person as well as weekly homework to be submitted online by Friday at 11:59 p.m._

_Next week I’ll provide more information about the project as well as assign partners with email addresses included so you can get in contact with one another. Be ready to work, the semester is abbreviated for this course, so you have less time to achieve more than those who started in January. Good luck!_

Travis took a picture and sent it to Provy with a simple “what the fuck” to which Provy responded with crying laughing emojis. Clearly, he needed new friends. Instead of wallowing, Travis decided to use his burst of productive energy to download the Connect course and to set up Zoom on his laptop.

After everything was set up, he texted Provy again.

**gonna get a better grade than u this semester asshole**

***

Travis was assigned some kid named Nolan Patrick. After a day with no email, Travis decided to reach out first to this dude. Clearly he wasn’t going to step up.

**To: njp1921@philadelphia.edu**

**Subject: MGMT Project**

**Sup dude, I’m Travis. We’re partners for the 490 project and I was just wondering if you wanted to meet up in person or if you’d rather Zoom, that’s good with me too. Let me know if you want my number to coordinate this over text, if not, it’s cool. No pressure. Anyway, I figure we should probably start this ASAP so yeah.**

**Good day,**

**TK**

And then he waited for a response. Which he didn’t get for two days. And when he checked on a Wednesday morning, he had an email from late the night before sitting in his inbox.

**To: tk01123@philadelphia.edu**

**Subject: MGMT Project**

**Sorry for the late response. 9:00 tomorrow morning.**

**https://zoom.us/j/198107218**

Travis checked the time on his phone and cursed, it was 8:55. If he missed it or was late, lowkey it wasn’t his fault because Nolan should’ve definitely emailed him before 3:16 a.m. His laptop was on the floor next to his bed and probably barely charged because he was just that responsible, so he got up to hunt down the charger and start a pot of coffee.

A headband was on his bedside table, and he used it to push his hair back while his laptop booted up. Provy got it for him for Christmas as kind of a joke, but he actually loved it and used it a lot at home. Where none of the boys could see him and give him shit.

He clicked the Zoom link and accepted video and audio use before going to fix up his coffee and grab the notebook he picked for the class. When he got back to his bed, the video was up and Nolan was squinting at the camera, rubbing his eyes and yawning. Clearly the dude had just woken up and Travis wanted to absolutely die because he was _so fucking pretty_.

Shutting his mouth, he honestly didn’t realize it had fallen open, he cleared his throat, “Um, what’s up dude.”

“Hey, sorry I scheduled this so early, but I have some stuff to do this afternoon.”

“All good, I’m just glad I woke up in time to catch your email.”

Nolan chuckled, “Yeah, sorry about that too, I realized super late that I’d forgotten to actually respond.”

Travis was endeared. And so Fucking Screwed. He took a sip of his coffee to distract himself while Nolan stretched across his bed reaching for something. He came back into frame and used a hairband to tie it back out of his face and opened the notebook.

“So we have to pick a company in the news right now and solve all their problems with some sort of management model in the book and then write a formal memo to the CEO breaking it down and explaining how to implement our findings.”

Travis nodded, clicking his pen nervously, “Yeah, I was doing some research on it and I wrote a few down and split them in half. We could do something about a company doing some corrupt, sketchy shit. Or just something newsworthy happening to them.”

“Can you give me some examples? I have a list too,” Nolan told him, shuffling some papers.

“Yeah, so corrupt like Boeing and their plane crash or Kraft and them having to provide financial reports to stockholders.”

“I have the Boeing one too,” Nolan cut him off, circling something on his paper, “what else?”

“For noncorrupt we could do Disney, they just promoted that guy that no one expected them to, or Tesla trying to set up shop in Germany.”

Travis looked up at Nolan who was chewing on the end of his pen, nodding slightly. He crossed something out and wrote something down before looking up at Travis, “Those are some good options. I think we should go through the models we’re supposed to learn this semester and match a few to each of the four cases you named. From there we can pick what we understand best. Better to make it easy than overly interesting.”

He flashed a small smile at Travis, and Travis’s stomach swooped. He nodded, “Yeah, Nolan, sounds great. When do you wanna call again?”

“Two days or so.”

“Friday?”

“Sounds good, I have workouts on Friday mornings, but I’m done by 9:00.”

“Workouts?” Nolan asked, pushing his notebook aside. He leaned forward, cocking his head to the side.

“For hockey, I’m on the team here.”

Nolan actually looked impressed and Travis preened just a little. With a small smile, Nolan took a deep breath before responding, “Well, 9:30 it is. Talk to you soon Travis.”

And before Travis could actually ask for his number, the call ended and an empty feeling of regret filled his stomach.

***

Friday morning, Travis showered, made coffee, and set up his laptop way before 9:30 because workouts ended early. The call connected and Nolan was there, looking exactly the same, tired and shirtless. Travis took a second, while Nolan was adjusting to being awake, to look around the background.

The room was dimly lit and looked like natural light rather than a lamp or ceiling lights. He had dark bedsheets and a Jets flag hanging above his bed. Little fairy lights were strung up around his bed, and it looked like a pipe next to medicine bottles on his night table.

Nolan did the hairband routine again and gave Travis a ‘one second’ motion while he spoke to someone out of frame. A hand reached into frame to hand Nolan a mug and he smiled brightly up at the other person. Travis was definitely not jealous, but he could stop himself from asking, “Who is that?”

“My roommate, Kevin.”

“Nice of him to bring you coffee, my roommate definitely doesn’t.”

Nolan laughed, “He’s an early riser anyway.”

Travis nodded and tried to push the weird feeling in his chest away, “So, whatcha got?”

Clearing his throat, Nolan opened his notebook and started reading.

They worked for 45 minutes before Nolan clearly started losing interest in the material. Travis was honestly impressed, he lost interest after 15 minutes.

“You a Jets fan?” Travis asked, leaning forward.

Nolan scratched his stomach, “Winnipeg, born and raised.”

Travis, because of course he couldn’t keep his mouth shut, had to come back with, “Leafs are better.”

Face lit up, Nolan laughed, “Dude, Laine over Matthews any day.”

“I know you’re just fucking with me because is no world is that true,” Travis said, shaking his head.

“Yeah I know, but you Leafs fans are just so sensitive all the time.”

And Travis couldn’t exactly argue, but he could maybe progress their relationship, “So do we meet over Zoom next week or should we get coffee since clearly we both like it?”

“Zoom is fine. Monday at 9:30?”

Travis had barely gotten a “yeah” out before Nolan hung up.

***

On Monday, Travis was determined to get the actual work out of the way fast and then get Nolan to accept his invitation to meet. Or at least get his number.

“Mornin, Nolan. Digging the braid,” Travis greeted him, honestly.

Nolan blushed and it went all the way down his chest, “Thanks, my sister is in town and she did it last night.”

“You have a sister?”

“Two actually, but only one is in town.”

“Cool, I always wanted a sister growing up. I only had a brother.”

“Seems ungrateful, but I always wanted at least one brother to fish with. My sisters used me as their doll growing up,” he motioned at his head with a chuckle, “clearly they still are.”

“My brother and I fish a lot. Normally that’s all we do when I go home.”

“Ah the simplicity of country bumpkin life.”

Travis rolled his eyes and smiled, “Takes one to know one.”

“Okay, okay. What’d you pick for the final model?”

When they were working, it was easy to forgot that Nolan attended all of these meetings both shirtless and in bed, but as soon as he shifted or scratched his stomach, Travis was abruptly made aware of how attractive his partner was and how desperately he wanted to take this boy on a date.

“So, listen, can I get your number in case something comes up and I have to reschedule?” Travis asked him, not at all subtle.

“Did you lose my email?”

“No…”

“Well that’s how you can contact me.”

And that was it. No progress, yet again.

***

They went a whole week without speaking again. Travis spent the week moping, staring at his email, and trying and failing to write a rough draft of the memo they needed to turn in. On one hand, he had never been more ahead in his classes with the amount he was checking his email. On the other, he was the most confused he’d ever been in his life.

Provy was absolutely no help, “Maybe he’s not gay, Teeks.”

“But straight dudes have each other’s numbers, Provy.”

He shrugged, “Maybe he doesn’t like leaving the house.”

Seemed unlikely but maybe. Travis could bring it up, for sure.

“Sup, Nolan.”

“Hey Trav, how have you been?”

“Been great,” lie, ”I was wondering, though, do you not like leaving the house?”

Nolan wrinkled his forehead in confusion, “I like leaving the house a normal amount?”

“I was just wondering because you won’t meet me for coffee.”

“Maybe after we finish this. Did you get my email of the memo I wrote?”

Travis cleared his throat, “Yeah, you get mine?”

“Yeah, I put them both in a Google doc, if you give me your gmail, I’ll add you and we can do the rest from there. I kind of started editing them together, but I got tired so I gave up.”

“For sure,” Travis wrote down his email and showed it to Nolan who carefully copied it down.

Travis felt extra drained for some reason and his giant one prompted one out of Nolan too. Unfortunately for Travis, it also caused a strand of hair to escape Nolan’s hairband and fall into his eyes which he cutely brushed away, forehead scrunching. Swear to god Travis stopped breathing for a second.

Without permission, Travis let out a little sigh and Nolan caught his eye with a small smile, “What?”

“Nothing,” Travis responded with a small smile, “what’s your major, Nolan?”

“Marketing. You?”

“Economics.” Nolan made a face and Travis couldn’t help but laugh, “Yeah, not the most fun.”

“I took both economics classes in one semester and I haven’t looked back,” Nolan told him, arms wrapping around his knees.

Travis wasn’t entirely sure, so he paused, “I don’t think you’re supposed to do that.”

“Perks of a big school, some people slip through the cracks.”

“How about that number, Nolan?” Travis hoped to catch him off guard with the sudden change.

Nolan shook his head, “One last Zoom conference next Wednesday, it’s due next Friday so we’ll just make sure everything is in order.”

Travis frowned, but nodded all the same.

***

“You got it printed?” Travis opened their last meeting with.

Nolan held it up, “I’m gonna run by his office later today to turn it in.”

And that’s when Travis got his best idea yet. “Sounds great, email me when you get finished.”

“Yeah, sure Trav.”

Travis took a second to look at Nolan one last time, to look at his room and to just see him in his most vulnerable state.

“It’s been an honor and a pleasure, Nol.”

Nolan snorted, “Good luck with the rest of the semester.”

“You too!”

***

Travis isn’t proud of it, but he parked it in the business building lobby and set up his laptop to hide behind. The professor’s office was across the hall from the bench he was sitting on, and he waited. After hanging up the Zoom call, Travis jumped out of bed, got dressed, and practically ran to the building he knew Nolan would have to be in eventually.

During one of their calls, Nolan told him he used to have health problems, so all of his classes were online and he was rarely on campus. Travis offered to turn their project in, secretly hoping Nolan would do it, and Nolan actually volunteered.

He sat for two hours before the doors opened and Nolan strolled into view. And, wow the camera didn’t do him any justice. He was taller and bigger than Travis thought. Staring at him, all Travis could think about was his bedroom, and his bedhead, and his tired smile. He ducked, hoping Nolan wouldn’t see him until after turning the paper in.

Sure enough, Nolan ducked into the office and Travis stood, putting his laptop away and wiped his hands nervously on his shorts. Nolan stepped back out and looked right at Travis, “Long time no see.”

Travis almost swallowed his tongue, “Yeah, um, I’m waiting-“

“For me?”

“For class,” Travis tried, weakly.

Nolan looked amused, “Well in that case, good to see you.”

“Wait, no, I wanted to get coffee with you.”

Blushing, Nolan bit the inside of his cheek and smiled at him shyly, “You still want to get coffee with me?”

“Yes?”

“You can buy.”

Travis was so taken aback by the change of mind that it took him a few seconds to respond, “Yeah, sure, I’d love to.”

Nolan smiled, “Let’s go.”

**Author's Note:**

> follow me on [tumblr](http://bitchell-marner.tumblr.com/) yo. i frequently yell about hockey and now i have nothing but time so if you wanna come talk to me, pls do.


End file.
